Today's computers generally experience a substantial amount of interaction with external data (i.e., data not locally stored by the computers themselves). The adoption of universal protocols and device interfaces for communication with peripheral devices has led to the widespread use of removable data storage media, including optical disks and USB flash drives to transfer data to and from computer devices. Removable storage media have proven to be a particularly efficient and reliable way to transfer portable data to and from a computing device. In some situations, the use of a removable storage medium may even be a faster, more efficient, and/or more secure means of transferring data to and from a computer than a network connection.
Still, importing data onto a machine using a removable storage medium can be problematic. For example, corrupt files stored on the removable storage medium may cause an undesirable loss of data on the medium at best, and at worst can lead to the corruption of the host computer attempting to read to or write from the medium. Additionally, a removable storage medium infected with viruses, worms, spyware, and/or other malware may undesirably infect a host computer with the malware.
Throughout the drawings, identical reference numbers designate similar, but not necessarily identical, elements.